Of Secrets and Hope
by NovaArbella
Summary: Remus sneaks out of the castle for a secret meeting. James, Lily, and Sirius go on an adventure. Or do they? Written for the Diagon AlleyII forum Grand New Year Battle: A story made from prompts. Marauder Era one shot, round 1.


This was written for the Diagon AlleyII forum Grand New Year Battle between the Death Eaters and The Order. (Down with the Order!) The two teams are battling it out, so to speak, by writing stories based off of prompts. We have a great many number of prompts to choose from, each with their own point value. Below are my chosen prompts and their point tally.

Dialogue Prompts: If this is wrong, why does it feel so right? 3

Character Prompts: Remus Lupin 5 & Andromeda Black 5

Pairings Prompts: James/Sirius/Lily 9

Creature Prompts: Dragon 4

Spell Prompts: Crucio 8

Total Points: 34

Of Secrets and Hope

Remus peeked into the common room. He was lingering in the stairways up to the dorms, wondering if he would be able to sneak through and out the portrait hole without James, Lily, and Sirius seeing him. It was late enough that he'd expected everyone to be asleep by now.

The three in question were all seated on the same couch, talking and laughing. They were occupied enough that, if he walked quickly and quietly through the common room, Remus was fairly sure he'd get away without being spotted. Or if they did see him, he would hopefully be most of the way to the portrait hole and could make up a quick excuse to why he was leaving so he could slip out into the castle before they could question anything he said.

As he quickly made his way across the room, he noticed James and Lily would occasionally look at each other longingly over Sirius, who had plopped himself between them. Remus was starting to suspect that Sirius was intentionally making sure that Lily and James weren't alone much. He seemed quite worried that he was going to lose one of his best mates. James and Sirius were particularly close, with Sirius estranged from his family and spending all holiday and summer breaks with James. Remus could see how Sirius might be worried.

Luck was with him and no one noticed as he hurried through the room and out into the hallways. He knew that if his friends found out what he was doing there could be trouble for him in Gryffindor. He was sneaking out behind his best mates backs to meet a Slytherin, after all.

* * *

><p>Sirius sat between Lily and James on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room, trying to think up something they could all do together that would keep Lily and James from snogging each others' faces off. It would have to be something good if he wanted to keep the love birds from fusing at the lips. As it was, he was already afraid that they'd just lean over him and start going at it any minute now.<p>

Lightning flashed outside the window, warning them of a coming storm, but the warmth from the fire crackling in the fireplace was making Sirius sleepy. He'd already had a day full of classes after being up all night, running around with the rest of the Marauder's as they did every full moon, and now he planned to try to stay up until Lily and James went to bed.

To help himself think, he leaned his head back and let his eyes drift shut for just a minute, hoping that shutting down one of his senses for a little while would help him come up with an idea.

Letting the warmth of the fire and the softness of the cushions lull him to that floaty place between asleep and awake, he let his mind wander. After a few minutes, he heard the couch springs creak and assumed that Lily and James had started to lean over him. Outside the wind began to pick up in large gusts.

* * *

><p>Forks of lightning flashed outside the windows as Remus cautiously crept through the hallways, hoping that he wouldn't run into Peeves on his descent to the lower floors. He was on his way out to the Whomping Willow, hoping the rain would hold off until he got into the tunnel beneath, and had almost made it to the front doors. All he had to worry about now would be Filch and the occasional ghost as he made his way through the rest of the castle.<p>

Thankfully arriving without incident, and really wishing he'd thought to 'borrow' James' cloak, he squeezed quietly out the front doors and into the wind that the coming storm was kicking up. Keeping to the shadows, he made his way to the Willow and used a Hover charm to levitate a stick in order to probe the knot in the trunk that would freeze the deadly lashing branches.

Swiftly he squeezed into the secret tunnel beneath and made his way to the Shrieking Shack, grateful that this trip was not going to end in a transformation. The full moon had ended yesterday, so he had an entire month before he had to worry about turning into a monster again.

The end of the tunnel came into view and he squeezed through into the room beyond, looking around as he straightened, seeing a slim, hooded figure tucked into the shadows.

* * *

><p>"I know something we can do, mates," Sirius said with his eyes still closed, startling both Lily and James, causing them to spring back onto opposite sides of the couch with guilty expressions.<p>

"Well?" James asked after a few moments silence.

"Remember the other day, when Hagrid hinted that he had seen signs of a dragon in the Forbidden Forest?" Sirius knew this would peak James' interests.

"He was winding you up, mate," James answered as Lily rolled her eyes.

"No, I don't think so," Sirius protested, "he looked too excited to be joking."

"There's no dragon in the forest," Lily broke in firmly.

"So it won't hurt to go check, will it?" Sirius rose and turned to James. "Come on, James. You know you're wondering."

James looked skeptical but Sirius could also see the Marauder in him taking over. "If it is true," James reasoned to Lily, "then think of how amazing it would be to see it."

"But it's not true," Lily stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well," Sirius said flippantly, "I'm going to go have a look around. It would be a pity if I got into any trouble out there all alone without my best mate to back me up."

He started walking toward the portrait hole, hoping his layer of guilt had sufficiently covered James and knew his words had hit home when the couch springs creaked as James rose as well.

"James!" Lily scolded. "You are the Head Boy! You can't go sneaking out into the forest at night!"

Sirius saw James swallow a chuckle and knew that he was thinking about all the times the Marauders had done exactly this kind of thing.

"He's my best mate, Lily. If he means to go, I have to go with him. You don't have to come, just don't say anything about it if anyone asks where we are. If you want to always be good and boring and never ever have an adventure in all your life, by all means, stay here where it is safe and warm."

With that, he turned and walked away with Sirius. They were almost out the portrait hole when they heard Lily spring up and run after them. The candlelight made her long red hair seem to glow as it streamed out behind her and suddenly Sirius felt an odd lump in his throat. He swallowed it as she dashed up to them and James placed an indulgent arm around her shoulders.

* * *

><p>"I was beginning to worry that you weren't coming," Remus heard a familiar voice say as its owner stepped out of the shadows, lowering the hood on her cloak.<p>

Andromeda Black, soon to be Andromeda Tonks, carried herself with quiet dignity. He knew that it was hard for her these days, with the turmoil her engagement to a Muggle born wizard had caused within her family, but Remus found himself impressed that it barely showed in her face or posture.

"It took me a little longer to sneak away from the common room than I thought it would. Lily, James, and Sirius are all still up," Remus apologized as he accepted the vial of yellow potion that she pulled out from one of the hidden pockets in her robes.

"It's slightly different this time," she told him, "I added a few things based on what you told me last time."

He uncorked the vial and wrinkled his nose at the pungent oder that wafted out. "It still smells like slug spleen," he complained as he held his nose and tipped the contents down his throat.

"That's probably because it's mostly slug spleen," she replied.

He'd been meeting Andromeda in secret for months now, helping her to test out her newest potions, which she was hoping would help werewolves everywhere some day. Even the Headmaster didn't know. Only he, Andromeda and his own parents knew of these secret meetings.

After she'd left Hogwarts, Andromeda had secured herself a job at a small, experimental potions facility. Her research had centred around certain herbs and fungi, which she had discovered may have some small effect on lycanthropy. She hoped to brew a potion that would make the transformations less painful. Remus' parents had found out about her research and approached her, asking if she would consider Remus for her testing trials.

So far she'd been only mildly successful. Remus had noticed a difference in the level of pain at the beginning of transformation, but by the end, it would be as painful as ever. He was grateful for even a tiny bit less pain at any stage and agreed to continue helping her as long as she wanted to keep up her research. Once he graduated from Hogwarts he wouldn't need to sneak around so much anymore and he'd be able to simply see her at her offices when they needed to meet.

* * *

><p>"Quiet!" Lily ordered James and Sirius, causing Sirius to roll his eyes. She was treating them like this was their first time out on the grounds after curfew. She'd been the same as they'd crept through the castle and out the front doors, constantly looking over her shoulder and making sure that the Silencing charms they'd used to deaden the sounds of their footsteps hadn't worn off.<p>

His only solace was that James was in the lead, while he himself brought up the rear, which meant that Sirius had a particularly good view of Lily's … assets. Usually he just saw Lily in her robes. Tonight she was in Muggle jeans, which were really working for her.

'Come off it!' he told himself, 'she's your best mate's girl! You couldn't do that to James.'

"Here we are," whispered James.

They'd come to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Sirius knew James had stopped and announced it for Lily's sake. By now he and the rest of the Marauders knew the forest almost as well as they knew the castle and the village.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Sirius asked Lily, hoping to rile her up a little. He really liked it when she was a bit fiery. 'Redheads,' he thought to himself with a chuckle as Lily's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to retort.

James cut her off. "Of course she is, mate," he said with a warning look at Sirius as they all stepped into the trees.

The dense foliage began to close in around them and Sirius could hear Lily begin to breathe heavily through her nose.

"Do you really think ... I don't know... that this is safe?" she asked in a whisper. "I mean, no one knows where we are, if something happens..." she trailed off.

Sirius snorted and Lily shot him a dirty look over her shoulder, failing to notice that James had stopped short. She ran into James as Sirius, who'd been busy returning her dirty look, ran into Lily. He stayed pressed up against her for perhaps a little longer than he strictly had too. She was so warm.

'If this is wrong, why does it feel so right?' he asked himself as he placed a hand on Lily's shoulder and peered around her, trying to see why James had stopped.

"The tops of all these trees are burned," James whispered, directing his wand light upward.

Both Sirius and Lily lit their wands and directed the beams toward the tree tops, indeed seeing that all the leaves there were scorched black.

"Look!" Lily exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice down. She'd directed her beam of light to the ground, where they could all plainly see very large tracks in the dirt.

"I told you that Hagrid was too excited to be joking," Sirius said triumphantly as they all started to follow the tracks deeper into the forest.

Neither Lily nor James answered as they made their way through a small clearing, the moonlight shining in beams through the sparse tree branches. Sirius chanced a glance at Lily and noticed that her skin looked like porcelain as the light shone on it. He gulped down another lump in his throat and quickly looked away.

As they crept along, keeping their ears open for any little sound, they started to hear a strange dull whirring. Almost like wind blowing through an empty room. The further they ventured, the louder it became. Every now and then it would stop, and so would they, straining to hear it again.

"This way," Sirius said when he finally picked up the sound again. "Whatever it is, I think it is just past that clump of evergreens."

He was right. They covered the last few hundred feet and excitedly pushed the thick spiny branches apart, revealing a sleeping, vivid green dragon. The noise they'd heard was a slight snore, accompanied by little puffs of smoke and the occasional spark from it's nostrils.

"Blimey, I can't believe it!" James exclaimed.

Both Lily and Sirius quickly shushed him, but it was too late. They'd been worried that he might wake the dragon. Thankfully he hadn't, but he had alerted someone to their presence. Someone they hadn't noticed while they'd been awed by the dragons sheer size.

"What do you think you're doing here?!" the stranger cried when he saw the three students, the hood on his cloak hiding his identity. "I'll teach you meddling little blighters!"

The stranger drew his wand and shouted, "Crucio!" a red light shot toward Lily.

Sirius reacted first and threw himself in front of the spell just as the red jet of light would have hit her. He tried to prepare himself for the pain, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the spell thump into his chest...

* * *

><p>Andromeda pulled several vials and a sheath of parchment out from inside her robes, "Here. Fill this out as usual and be sure to take these other potions at precisely this day and time each week leading up to the full moon."<p>

Remus pocketed the vials. "Thank you. I will be absolutely sure to," he replied, hopeful that this batch would be an improvement over the last. So far each batch she brought him was better and stronger, so he felt like maybe his hope wasn't misplaced.

The wind howled as Remus hurriedly filled out the questionnaire Andromeda gave him each month. The information would help her to adjust the new potions effectiveness. He answered everything as best he could, not liking to think back to his transformation, but doing it anyway. If he could help himself and other people like him, he was willing to deal with the discomfort.

As he and Andromeda parted ways, he heard some rain start to splatter at the windows. Hurrying back down the tunnel, he hoped that the heavy stuff would hold off until he was back in the castle. It would be much harder to go unnoticed if he was leaving puddles of water behind him.

'I've been hoping an awful lot of things tonight,' he mused idly as he scurried along.

* * *

><p>Sirius let out a small gasp as his eyes flew open. He was confused. There had been no pain when the spell had hit him and now he was no longer in the forest. Gone were the stranger and the dragon and the moonlight, replaced instead by the warm insides of the Gryffindor common room.<p>

He shifted, confused and bewildered. Rain and wind were battering at the tower windows. 'No...' he thought to himself. 'It was just perfectly calm out there...'

"I told you he'd wake up," Sirius heard Lily whisper.

Looking to his right, he was startled to see that Lily wasn't there anymore, so he looked to his left, finding her on James' lap. Raising his head off of the back of the couch and wincing at the pinch in his neck, he sputtered, "What the...?", his throat dry and rough, his brain still muddled and confused, "where's the dragon?"

"You fell asleep, mate," James answered, amused, "Maybe you'd like to go up to bed now?" he continued, raising his brows at Sirius and sliding his eyes over to Lily with a pointed look.

Sirius slowly grasped that the entire dragon adventure had been a dream. He must have fallen asleep when he'd laid his head back earlier as he tried to think of something they could all do together. Lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating the room, helping to cement the certainty of the dream in his mind.

Suddenly, he remembered the thoughts he'd had about Lily in said dream. With a flush he realized that his pants felt rather tight. He knew the reason as soon as he looked down and saw the bulge there.

Quickly, he weighed his options. He could go up to the dorms, lonely and frustrated, knowing that James was down here having a much better night than he was, or he could take a chance and make a wild suggestion.

He went with the wild suggestion.

"Or I could stay here and join you," he ventured, ready to spring up and run should either Lily or James take offense.

There was a tense silence in which Lily and James stared at each other and seemed to be communicating telepathically. "Well," Lily finally said, "I suppose we could try and see where it goes."

Sirius' jaw dropped to his chest as she shifted over from James' lap to his, and giggled when she felt him poke her through his pants. "Not wasting any time I see," she whispered as she lowered her lips to his.

And that night Sirius Black discovered that Lily Evans' kisses tasted like strawberries.

* * *

><p>Remus shook his wet hair from his eyes as he crept back up to the common room, swishing his tongue around inside his mouth, trying to wash out the taste of Andromeda's potion. He stealthily made his way past Peeves, who was busy writing rude things on the walls with chalk, and slowly climbed the last staircase on the way up to Gryffindor tower. Luckily The Fat Lady was home in her portrait and she opened up with nothing more than a disapproving look, allowing Remus into the common room.<p>

He'd been gone some considerable time and expected that the common room would be empty. As he walked through he first thought that he'd been right, but then he noticed some strange sounds coming from one of the couches, so he crept up and peeked over the back, seeing James, Lily, _and_ Sirius.

They were all rather wrapped up in each other and Remus didn't know what to think. After staring in shock for a few seconds, he shook himself back to reality and quietly continued on up to the dorms.

'Wonder what James and Sirius will have to say tomorrow,' he thought to himself as he changed out of his clothes and crawled into bed, drawing the curtains closed around him. He drifted off to sleep thinking about the best way to use this new piece of information to his advantage. If he played his cards right, he might not have to do his own homework for the rest of the year.


End file.
